Justin Baldoni apologized to Blake Lively via voicemail amid 'It Ends with Us' script rewrite—report
Justin Baldoni apologized to Blake Lively in an alleged seven-minute voicemail while working on the It Ends with Us script.
TMZ reported that Baldoni, the movie's co-star and director, sent the apology at 2 a.m. after a meeting with Lively's husband Ryan Reynolds at his penthouse, where the couple's friend Taylor Swift also allegedly came. They allegedly discussed Lively's input for changes in the script, particularly the rooftop scene where her character Lily Bloom meets Baldoni's Ryle Kincaid for the first time.
"I'm really sorry. I f***ed up. I will admit and apologize when I fail. I'm a very flawed man, as my wife will attest," he reportedly said. "I'm gonna piss you off, probably, but I will always apologize and find my way back to center. I'm sorry I made you feel that way. I will, for sure, do better."
Baldoni also reportedly told Lively she got "great friends," referring to Reynolds and Swift.
"Damn right, you've got great friends. We should all have friends like that, aside from the fact that they're two of the most creative people on the planet," he reportedly said.
He supposedly called the trio an "incredibly powerful force," adding he wanted to spend time with Lively crafting the movie.
At one point, Baldoni reportedly told Lively how sorry he was for her previous bad experiences with other filmmakers, calling them "f**kheads."
"That's not at all gonna be, or will be, and hopefully it's not been the experience with me," he reportedly said. "There's nothing more exciting to me that I get to work with Blake Lively and have all of her. I mean, that's what I want!"
He reportedly called himself and Lively the "secret sauce" to making a great movie before stopping himself and allegedly saying, "I'm sorry. You probably have kids all over you, and a baby on your boob and you're listening to me ramble."
Baldoni's $400 million lawsuit
In Baldoni's $400 million (P23.4 billion) lawsuit against Lively and Reynolds, he alleges her of hijacking the production of It Ends with Us and that she defamed him. He also accused her and Reynolds of extorting him.
He said Lively asked to "take a pass" on the rooftop scene, noting that her version was "dramatically" different from how the script was originally written.
Baldoni said he was then "summoned" by Reynolds to their penthouse in New York. Swift later "began praising Lively’s script."
For Baldoni, that meeting meant "he needed to comply with Lively’s direction for the script."
Baldoni said he texted Lively that while her supposed rewrite was "so much more fun and interesting," he "would have felt that way without Ryan and Taylor" present. He said he didn't need "Reynolds and her megacelebrity friend to pressure him."
Lively allegedly responded to him by saying she's Khaleesi, a character from the Game of Thrones, and alluded to Reynolds and Swift being her "dragons."
"For better or worse, but usually for better," Lively allegedly said. "Because my dragons also protect those I fight for. So really we all benefit from those gorgeous monsters of mine. You will, too, I can promise you."
Lively, in another alleged text to Baldoni, also told him that Reynolds and Swift are her "Dance Moms level stage moms."
"They are embarrassingly effusive," she supposedly said of Reynolds and Swift, calling herself the "luckiest motherf***er on the planet" to have them as her supporters and "most trusted partners."
As to what happened at Reynolds's penthouse, Lively allegedly responded to Baldoni that, "I think they wanted you and me to see how they felt about [the rewrites] because they've been by my side for far too many experiences where I've been overlooked."
It Ends with Us row
Lively and Baldoni's legal saga stemmed from her filing a sexual harassment complaint against Baldoni and Jamey Heath, chief executive officer of Wayfarer Studios. She also accused them of running a smear campaign against her.
In her complaint, Lively accused Baldoni and Heath of telling her about their past sexual relationships and "previous porn addiction."
Heath also allegedly showed Lively a video of his wife naked and giving birth.
Baldoni and Heath likewise supposedly entered Lively's makeup trailer without permission, "including when she was breastfeeding her infant child."
Lively also recalled Baldoni claiming he could communicate with the dead, including her father, Ernie Lively. She found it "off-putting and violative."
Following Lively's complaint, the New York Times published a report titled 'We Can Bury Anyone': Inside a Hollywood Smear Machine. The report used excerpts from alleged text messages and emails she obtained through a subpoena and detailed the work of crisis management firm TAG PR for Baldoni, including allegedly planting negative stories in the media.
Baldoni's camp, meanwhile, has called the accusations against his client "categorically false."
His lawyer Bryan Freedman said a crisis manager was hired ahead of the film's marketing campaign "due to the multiple demands and threats made by Ms. Lively during production."
Baldoni claimed that Lively threatened him not to show up on set and promote the film.
His legal team also alleged that Lively's camp had "planted negative and completely fabricated and false stories with media."
On Jan. 1, Baldoni filed a $250 million (P14.5 billion) lawsuit against the Times—plus 10 other plaintiffs, including publicists Melissa Nathan and Jennifer Abel—for libel, false light invasion of privacy, promissory fraud, and breach of implied-in-fact contract for its We Can Bury Anyone report.
The Times defended its article as "meticulously and responsibly reported."
Baldoni's camp recently released a series of video takes during the production of It Ends with Us in an attempt to debunk Lively's sexual harassment allegations against him. It also announced plans to launch a website containing "all correspondence" with her and "relevant videos."
Lively and Reynolds, in turn, requested a gag order.
